Reviews by Loki:

Revied from notes taken on 8/25/05 that I'm finally getting around to putting in BA.com. Thanks Alekeep and Biergirl, and your Norwegian friends, for sharing these wonderful beers during our Norwegian Beer dinner.

Appearance: A very unique dark, ruby port color with a biege head. Very clear with light carbonation.

Smell: Strong juniper berries, spruce tips, and eucalyptus leap out of the glass. Very medicinal with all sorts of spices. Some clove. Incredibly unique, very intriquing. I found it quite inviting and pleasant. Others were not as receptive.

T: This beer is a strong contender in the spiced Christmas beer category with Anchor's Our Special Ale. It is not as cloying or as aggressive as the 2008 Anchor was. More subtle and more satisfying. The spices start it out, but the malt takes over pretty quickly, with a balancing hop in the mix.

M: This complex brew is a kind of a riot of persistent flavors, attributable to its spice list: ginger, coriander, cardamon, cinnamon and cloves. Ginger, cinnamon and cloves are the most identifiable.

D: I wouldn't want to drink more than a single 25 oz bottle at a time (probably shared) so that I wasn't put off by spiciness. I find this a highly drinkable beer - more so than a lot of the spiced winter beers out there.

This beer is a direct analogue with this brewer's Underlig Jul.
While the Underlig is listed on their site as being 6.5% abv (this one is shown at 6.3%), the brewer still states that they are the same beer (rated separately here on BA).

Goblet for this one. Dark brown with a hint of ruby around the edges, and with a fluffy head of foam that recedes into a thick ring with some lacing.

Once you open the bottle, a blast of herbs greets you - really opens up your sinuses, actually. The bottle lists cinnamon, ginger, cloves, coriander and - perhaps most strangely - cardamom as being added spices to the mix, and I'll certainly say that the ginger gets top billing here. Peppermint, herbal medicine (cough drops?), orange peel are also in the mix. A spicy conglomeration, this.

After sharing the first bottle with friends, I wasn't as impressed with it. But the second time around, consumed on its own and with the whole bottle to myself, I can certainly see the medicinal quality to the brew, but I have to say there's a lot more to it than that. The first few sips are quite strong in the ginger, peppermint and herb department, but as your tastebuds acclimatize, things become far more balanced. The Christmas flavors of cinnamon, oranges with clove, and sweet malt start to get some time to shine. As you go further along, the hops (American, again) start to become more assertive, giving the brew a nice pine woodsy feel and also cleansing the palate of the rich heaping of spice. Really interesting beer this, and the more I sip it, the more I'm enjoying it.

T-The spice (I can't distinguish which spices are in here-tastes like it's coming more from the Cascade and Columbus hops then anything else) and tingly carbonation hits me first, then the clean bready malt takes over followed up with spicy hops and a slight alcoholic burn that ends quick. Like the aroma this beer has a lot of flavors blended together. It's a nice beer-a Christmas beer that drinks equally well on a warm summer day.

M-Lots of carbonation, medium-bodied, finish is quite smooth. Finish gets a little longer and more bitter (hoppy) as it warms.

D-I'd happily drink many ounces of this one.

O-Plenty of complexity to keep your palate interested while drinking a bomber. A fun and complex beer. My first beer from Nogne. I like it. Got a deal on this one, but I might have to come back and give more of their beers a go.

Appearance: dark brown like root beer, a bit murky; dense, tan head with great retention

Aroma: huge spice notes flowing from the pour - cardamom, cinnamon, close; like a pumpkin pie but without the sweetness, it practically burns; perfect for winter

Taste & Mouthfeel: right off the start more balanced than expected - some solid chocolate and espresso flavours with the spices coming out more in the finish, pairing with coffee bitterness and maybe some orange peel; medium-light body also unexpected, thought it would be heavier; bitterness and spice sometimes feels like pine needles; caramel malt sweetness is mild, just there as a platform for the other flavours

Overall: a great easy-drinking winter brew with interesting complex flavours, but a bit more malt complexity would be nice

A- This beer pours a dark dense brown body with a thick light tan head that last and last and sticks to the glass.

S- The smell of cardamom, cinnamon, and a British yeast blend together during the pour.

T- The dried ginger and mellow chocolate malt has some berry fruity esters supporting it. There is some soft spicy notes with ginger and hops blended with an interesting minty quality to the hops. The spices hang on the tongue after each sip.

M- The medium mouthfeel has a gentle carbonation but no real alcohol heat.

O- This beer has a big spice flavor with the cardamom and dry spice flavor growing too strong as the beer opens up. It gets hard to drink and the malt and hop flavors get lost making this beer a bit more odd with each sip.

The aroma is very strong with this one. Heavy spice, fruit, and mulled wine notes suggest anything other than a beer. Cinnamon, cloves, raisins, possibly cherries...a hint of prunes and oak as well...

Peculiar indeed, it tastes a bit like perfume but in a good way. The aformentioned spices are present along with a bit of lavender, vague honey, sandalwood, and lime as well. Aftershave, potpurri, recently cleaned and waxed wood floors...all these come to mind. There is a malty backbone that comes through in the finish and offsets the myriad of unusual flavors with a more familiar element.

Nice appearance. The body is a clear mahogany brown with ruby and ruby-orange highlights beneath a pillowy head of lightly orange-tinted tan that leaves thick rings and sheets of lace about the glass as it goes.

The aroma is mainly piney, but perhaps contains some other spice, and it's gingerbready in combination with the toasty and toffee-ish malt included. I'm reminded of Ivin's Famous Spiced Wafers (which are apparently ONLY famous in the Philadelphia, New Jersey, and lower New York areas).

The flavor follows the aroma but with more maltiness, and as it warms it becomes much more rounded and not quite as sharp with pine. It's bready, toasty, spicy with ginger/nutmeg (and perhaps other spices, maybe all-spice), and piney. I'm not sure if the pine is coming from hops or not, but whatever's going on seems to be working well with the spices. There's not a lot of bitterness, but their needn't be as it finishes dry with a light touch of raspy evergreen. Looking deeper into it you'll find notes of caramel, light chocolate, toffee, and a good bit of nuttiness. It's fairly complex, and somewhat rich, yet it doesn't seem filling or overpowering.

A- Pours a dark brown color with a massive light tan head that sticks around forever and leaves a good amount of retention.

S- The aroma just screams Christmas. There is sweet malt up front with a lot of spices most notably of cinnamon, cloves and coriander. The aroma is wonderful, and would be a great beer to enjoy during the holidays.

T- The taste starts out with a nice smooth malt base with an array of spices and a roasted bitter finish.

M- The mouthfeel is smooth and very creamy with a moderate amount of carbonation.

D- Peculiar Yule is a pretty solid brew that is a perfect holiday brew to enjoy with all the holiday fixings. Recommended!

A winter warmer just in time for summer
A - just slightly hazy rootbeer brown, thumb of tan head held its own nicely
S - dense wet cake batter with nutmeg, cinnamon, with light fruit and greens
T - some earthy and pine hops hold a decent balance against dense bread, winter spices, and light molasses malts, slightly must finish
M - medium to heavy with a solid spicy tingle, finishes with just a touch of hop dry
O - a solid tasty spicy treat with a fairly good balance of hops and big sticky malt, worth seeking out but maybe wait for the fall

Pours a chocolate brown color with some noticable yeast floaties. The head is dense and creamy, settles into a solid ring. The aroma is a spice bomb. Some nice spruce and ginger that mellows with some clove spice. There seems to be a hidden milk chocolate character that mixes well with the spice. The base flavor seems to be a traditional english porter as it has some caramel/butter malt characteristics. The spice is not as heavy as it is in the aroma. Definitely some candied ginger, light sprucy juniper and cardamom. The feel is moderate to chewy, fairly soft carbonation which I expected for the style. Has a nice holiday spicy finish. A very good sprucy/spiced ale. The brew has a nice woodsy spice that I like in a holiday beer. Very enjoyable and recommended.

Pours a somewhat cloudy, walnut brown with a decent amount of beige head. The aroma is intense and characteristic of Scandinavian Christmas beers: pine, pitch, cardamom, and ginger all stand out immediately.

Inspired by Gløgg, Peculiar Yule has a medium-body and a dark, complex flavor that, to a certain degree, masks the presence of the hop varieties. Pine, cocoa, and the aforementioned spices are the predominant flavors here. Different but drinkable, this malty brew also has a fairly long, rather sweet finish. A must for fans of spiced beer.